BHUBANESWAR. Bhubaneswar: The 25-year rule of BJD chief and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Odisha came to an end on Tuesday, as the BJP almost swept both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state and is set to form a new government on June 10.
The decision will not just impact Naveen’s political future but will also affect the future of the BJD, which dominated the state for over 15 years.
The party, formed by Naveen Patnaik in 1997, came to power in 2000 in alliance with the BJP. It continued to grow stronger even after breaking the alliance just before the 2009 elections. Patnaik and his party had created an aura of invincibility after winning five consecutive elections.
However, this election put a spanner in the BJD’s bid for a record sixth term. The BJP’s lead is so huge that the chief minister, who faced the Modi wave in 2014 and 2019, lost to BJP’s Laxman Bagh by over 15,000 votes in Kantabanji, from where he contested as a second seat. Naveen, however, won from Hinjili, his traditional stronghold in Ganjam district.
